Middle East crisis: UK defence minister arrives in Cyprus

Britain’s defence minister John Healey arrived in Cyprus Thursday, following a drone strike on a UK air base on the Mediterranean island.

The visit comes after the runway of the Royal Air Force (RAF) base at Akrotiri came under attack by an Iranian-made unmanned drone on Monday.

“The longstanding friendship between the UK and the Republic of Cyprus is strong in the face of Iranian threats,” Healey posted on X alongside a photograph of him meeting Cypriot Defence Minister Vasilis Palmas.

The pair discussed how “the UK is further reinforcing our air defences to support our shared security,” he added.

British Prime Minister Keir Starmer said Tuesday the UK was dispatching “helicopters with counter drone capabilities” and a warship, HMS Dragon, to Cyprus as Britain continued “defensive operations” in the region.

HMS Dragon is one of the Royal Navy’s six Type 45 air defence destroyers.

It is fitted with a Sea Viper missile system able to launch eight missiles in under 10 seconds and guide up to 16 missiles simultaneously, Britain’s defence ministry said.

The helicopters are Wildcat helicopters equipped with Martlet missiles that can take down drones.

On Wednesday, Cyprus’s High Commissioner to the UK Kyriacos Kouros said Cypriots were “disappointed” at the level of information-sharing with residents after RAF Akrotiri was hit and further drones intercepted.

“Let’s say the people are disappointed, the people are scared, the people could expect more,” he told the BBC’s Newsnight programme.

Starmer initially refused to have any role in the US-Israeli war with Iran but later agreed to a US request to use two British military bases for a “specific and limited defensive purpose”.

Those bases are in Gloucestershire, western England, and the UK-US Diego Garcia base in the Indian Ocean.

Starmer has insisted that the Akrotiri base is not being used by US bombers.

Monday’s drone strike there caused minimal damage and no casualties, said British officials.

Service personnel’s families have been moved away from the base as a precaution.

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